Gustaf E. Degen: Plant Physiology First Author

Gustaf E. Degen, first author of “High cyclic electron transfer via the PGR5 pathway in the absence of photosynthetic control”

Current Position: Postdoctoral Research Associate, Johnson Lab, School of Biosciences, University of Sheffield, UK

Education: PhD at Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster UK; MSc and BSc from Heinrich-Heine University, Düsseldorf, Germany

Non-scientific Interests: Cats, Coffee & Gardening

Brief bio: For my BSc and MSc, I studied Biology at the Heinrich-Heine University Düsseldorf, Michigan State University, and the Max-Planck-Institute for Plant Breeding Research. I mainly did research projects on photosynthesis in Arabidopsis and genetics in barley. I then combined these topics during my PhD at Lancaster University, working on Rubisco activase in wheat with Elizabete Carmo-Silva.  During my PhD, I was able to generate a more thermostable wheat Rubisco activase isoform and performed an in-depth study of the abundance of Rubisco activase isoforms during heat stress. After working on the carbon-reactions of photosynthesis, I then joined Matt Johnson’s group at the University of Sheffield to work on the light reactions. Since arriving at Sheffield, I have been working on the regulation of cyclic electron transport using various Arabidopsis mutants. I hope that this fundamental research will improve our understanding of the regulation of photosynthesis.